At a convenient time for Australians, Microsoft just announced the worldwide availability and pricing for the much anticipated Surface RT tablet. For geeks down under, the Surface RT tablet can be in your hands November 6 starting at AUD $559.
The pricing breakdown (including GST) is
- Surface RT 32GB: $559
- Surface RT 32GB + Touch Cover: $679 ($698.99 sold separately)
- Surface RT 64GB + Touch Cover: $789
- Touch Cover (Black, white, magenta, cyan, red): $139.99
- Type Cover (Black): $149.99
Preorders start from 3am (today) Wednesday, 17th of October online at the Microsoft Store (Australia).
From the press release:
Surface with Windows RT will initially be available in three SKUs: a 32GB version priced at AUD $559.00, a 32GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at AUD $679.00, and a 64GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at AUD $789.00. Prices are GST inclusive.
A variety of accessories will also be available, including Touch Covers in five vibrant colours — black, white, magenta, cyan and red — priced at AUD $139.99 so customers can express their personal style1. Customers will also have the option to purchase a Type Cover in black for AUD $149.99, which adds moving keys for a more traditional typing feel.
For those keeping score of the “Australian tax” for technology products currently under government inquiry, the Surface in Australia has a markup over our American buddies of roughly $60 (USD $499 vs. AUD $559). This is comparable to the $40 markup for the iPad (USD $499 vs. AUD $539).
Got it! Now I can sleep.
its not really a markup is it? US prices are listed without state sales taxes, Aus prices must legally include GST.
so the US base price is 499 + state sale tax? whatever they are using (maybe shipping from sales tax free location however?)
The so called “Australia Tax” is less than $25 based on current exchange rates when you take into account the Australian prices are listed as GST inclusive.
~$120 – $150 for the keyboard? Ouch. If you can put up with using a USB or Bluetooth keyboard then that’s a significant saving that you can make.
I hope Micorosft can build a cheaper Surface for cheapos like my drooling over Nexus 7… Maybe Acer will beat them to that.
Bear in mind that the prices for the product in the U.S. don’t include sales tax. A $499 product purchased in San Francisco, for example, would cost $541 with sales tax of 8.5 percent. Sales tax can vary significantly depending on what state and county you’re in, and there’s a big issue about whether people should pay it when making purchases with the Internet (Amazon says no, governments say yes).
That is one very expensive cover/keyboard isn’t it!
“a 32GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at AUD $679.00, and a 64GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at AUD $789.00.”
So 32 extra GB for the low low price of AUD$110. Fantastic. Yet you can buy 32GB micro SD cards for $20 (USD), 64GB micro SD cards for $60, or even 128GB SD cards for $140 (yes really).
Well, my consolation is that they won’t sell any anyways.